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Friday, May 21, 2010

Herding cat

Last night the cat got out. As you may notice from the picture above, not only does Kitka have a face that says "trouble" she is also mostly black. This makes it difficult to see her at 10 PM.

She's an indoor cat, although we take her out occasionally on a leash in the back yard just because she cries so pitifully at the back window. She doesn't have front claws, so she will remain an indoor cat for the rest of her life.

That is, assuming we're quick enough to keep her from running out.

I'm relatively new at life with a cat, so I confess to being unsure of the best way to handle a cat getting out. First of all - we never intend for her to run out again. The panic was just too great for all of us. My daughter was closing the door after saying hello to a friend she saw outside, and Kitka bolted. We had four kids and two parents out there (in the rain, mind you), calling to the little cat, and trying to tempt her with food and promises that she could be safe and warm inside if she'd just let us near her. She loves hiding under shrubbery, by the way, and we have a lot of that out front.

Our neighborhood has a particularly active hawk and several coyotes, so we really didn't like her being outside, even for the five tense minutes we couldn't corral her.

She's fast. She's less than a year old, and as I mentioned earlier, she's trouble. But too cute for words.

Any suggestions from veteran cat lovers out there? I hope we never need to try to catch her again (that's the plan) but if we do, hints for the best way to do it would be appreciated!

6 comments:

LOL - the problem turned out to be capturing her... which my daughter's friend, Jake, actually managed to do when I ran in for another treat to offer. We have a collar with a bell but Kitka hated it so much we took it off. I think it's going back on today! Thanks for the reminder!

The only thing that ever worked with Chris's cat, Mooch (calico, and about the size of Kitka, also known as Houdini), was shaking the bottle of cat treats. Unfortunately, they don't make that brand of cat treats anymore! It's been nearly two years since we've had a Mooch escape, but when we do, usually the whole neighborhood gets involved. Mooch also has no sense, she's been an indoor cat all her life and she's dumb about outdoors...doesn't know to stay out of roads, doesn't know to come in out of rain or snow, doesn't think about it being too cold...she's an infuritating little brat.

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I'm the author of two bestselling mystery series as well other mysteries and short stories now available in ebook form. I write every day (mostly), blog on occasion, and interact with readers - always!